1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a cladding system, and in particular to a cladding system for mounting stone cladding panels on an exterior of a building to form the facade of the building.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known to provide stone cladding systems for buildings, particularly relatively large buildings, office blocks and the like, comprising a plurality of store cladding panels secured to the building structure to form a wall by a mounting means engagable between the building structure and each panel. The cladding panels thus form the facade of the building. A known mounting means comprises an anchoring system which requires a brick or concrete wall to which mechanical anchors for each cladding panel are attached or embedded. The anchors fix the stone cladding panels in two load points at a bottom of each stone cladding panel and two restraint points at a top of the stone cladding panel. With this system, if the cladding panels need to be removed for replacement or access, for example, it is usually very difficult to do so and typically the mechanical anchors are damaged in the process. Further the stone cladding panels have to be installed in a desired sequence, usually building up from the base of the building and the panels have to be checked frequently to ensure they are plumb and level. As can be appreciated, this is somewhat tedious and time consuming. A further disadvantage of the sequential construction methods is that if during construction the next required cladding panels are not immediately available on site, the construction of the facade comes to a halt with consequent construction delays and added cost.
The present invention is directed towards overcoming these problems.